Diamond Jubilee celebration in Lima

The Queen's diamond jubilee has been a big deal in the UK from what I'm hearing but we've had our own celebrations here in Peru too! A few weeks ago I logged into my emails to find an email from the British Consulate in Lima.  Oh oh I thought, what if something has gone wrong with my visa or something else along these lines.  I opened the e-mail to find it was an invitation to a diamond jubilee celebration at the British Ambassador's residence here in Lima!  

Cake competition entries

I was 12 years old and in primary school when the queen visited Stornoway on her Golden Jubilee tour of the Hebrides.  I remember all the excitment and special security in place on that day and how lovely the queen looked in her pink suit and hat.  We stood at the town hall and waved little Union Jacks while the queen collected lots of floral tributes and thanked us for coming. I would never have guessed then that 11 years on I would be celebrating her diamond jubilee in Peru!


Yesterday was the big day! Myself, Charmian and her husband Dennis and Megan (who arrived back from Moyobamba on Thursday night) went to the British Ambassador's residence for a buffet lunch to commemorate the Queen's diamond jubilee.  It was a bit of a jounrney there since we stay in the opposite side of the city and Saturday afternoon traffic in Lima is terrible.  We ended up getting lost looking for the car drop off point and had to be given directions by a friendly looking "vigilante".  By the time we made it to the point where we were supposed to meet the private car that was to take us to the Ambassador's house, we were pretty late but thankfully we weren't the only ones to have fallen victim to the Lima traffic!

Beautiful flower table decorations

We were escorted to the residence where we had identity checks and then welcomed to the party with a little paper cone of fish and chips! It was fantastic and better was to come.  We arrived just as the choir of the United British Schools of Lima were in the middle of their performance.  They sung really well and we had a chance to meet the other Brits in Lima.  After a quick speech by the Ambassdor we were all invited to sit and enjoy the buffet.


I was happy to see there food was mostly British (made a nice change) and there was more than enough for everyone.  We sat outside in the lawns of the Ambassador's house with the sandy peaks of the smallest foothills of the Andes in the background and Union Jack banners waving in the breeze to reminds of where we came from, There was a cake competition and a quiz of Great Britian which our team did very poorly in (perhaps we should have listened better in history class!) We had a lovely time meeting new people and catching up with others we hadn't seen in a while.  The time passed fast and all too soon it was over and we were back battling the Lima rushhour traffic but it was a lovely way to spend the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.  We felt part of the celebrations even though 6000 miles and an ocean separate us from where we call home!

In celebration of the Union Jack